Dark Days
by JaclynM
Summary: Delia is Katherine Pierce's younger sister. She used to be her sisters shadow. Not anymore. Not after an incident that brought her to Lyle House and an escape the brought her to Andrew, a friend  or enemy  from her past.
1. Chapter 1

School.

Acronym: Seven Crappy Hours Of Our Lives. So true.

It was the first time that I had been in school since 1864 when my older sister, Katherine, was playing the Salvatore brothers.

Not my favorite moment in time, but hey with a sister like Katherine around since way back when (and I mean _way_ back when) you get used to things like that going on around you. But I am _not _going to say that I liked having stuff like that around me.

That's why I'm back at school. Trying to be normal for once in my life. Not turning out so well for me.

Especially when the fuzz showed up.

I was in history class when they came in. Candice and Rodger Beauregard. I had noticed them watching me at home a few days ago. They were hiding behind some trees. Not a very good hiding place if the person you're stalking is a vampire.

I am _soooo_ not getting into that story.

All you have to know is that what these people were attempting to do to me, was _not_ going to work. Not even in their dreams.

Or at least that's what I thought until I noticed what they had come in with.

When Candice and Rodger came in the whole class and even the teacher went silent. I guess they were kind of famous in this place. Not a very good place, I might add.

They didn't even bother to hold up their badges to show that they were legit. They just told everyone to get out. Except me.

Oh, my merry luck.

"Hello," Candice said when everyone had cleared the room. "We need to talk to you for a while, miss." By talking, I think she meant "we need to render you unconscious and turn you over to our leader." Well that didn't make me feel comfortable, but I had seen more than this in my many years.

"Well, I don't want to talk to you. Sorry." I said, boredom seeping into my voice.

"We don't want to 'talk' and I think you know that." Rodger said, producing a syringe full of what seemed to be vervain.

I jumped up with my awesome speed and fled to the nearest window, passing Rodger as I went by. Sadly, Rodger got in a good shot with the syringe and poked me in the arm just long enough to distribute the vervain.

When the vervain entered my system it felt like someone was burning my skin with hot wires, and I felt myself collapse to the floor. The vervain continued to burn and even got worse until my eyesight was glazed in red agony.

What happened next was a complete blur to my messed up head. I remember someone bringing in a stretcher, being hauled away from the school. Then I passed out.

I know what you're probably thinking. How can a _vampire _pass out? Well, I can't explain how it happens, but I'm here to tell you that a vampire passing out is, indeed, possible.

When I woke up, I got the slightest feeling that life was _not_ good.

A vamp tried to be normal and what does she get? A shit load of useless crap that she could really miss out on.

But oddly enough, the room looked pretty nice for my prison. And believe it or not, there was another person in the room with me.

She had long orange colored hair. And when I say orange colored, I mean literally _orange._ Her back was facing me and she was sleeping on another bed in the room, so I couldn't see her face.

Quickly, without moving or making any kind of sound that would indicate that I was awake, I took in account of the room.

There was a window on the girl with orange hair's side. But it had bars on it and I could see the blinking red light of an alarm system on it too. On my side of the room was a door, of course locked. Whoever put me here wouldn't be _that_ dumb, especially since this person knew about vervain. But a locked door wouldn't do much to stop me and my reign of terror. So I figured that there must be a silent alarm system on the door.

I wasn't in the best shape ever, and I knew I would need time to recover from the high dose of vervain before I could even _think_ about making a break for it. That depressed me though, because I was not used to feeling helpless or trapped, and I sure as hell didn't like it.

But, I would live. Maybe. There was always the off chance that the people who had taken me would want me dead. _But they would have killed you by now if they wanted you dead, idiot._ I thought to myself. But it could also be someone from my past. Elijah, or maybe even the Salvatore brothers themselves in all of their infamous glory.

Though that was highly unlikely. With all of the time that Katherine had spent playing with their innocent souls, they had only met me twice. But twice was enough to remember, especially for a vampire mind.

The thing about me is, that when I first meet someone I like to project an act of vulnerability and harmlessness, even though that is far from the truth. I was almost positive that I had the Salvatore brothers fooled as thoroughly as Katherine had so many years ago.

So where was I?

There was no time to waste. The vervain had already started to wear off and I was nearly at my full strength. I could take on a few guards by triggering the alarm at the window. No way was I heading out the door. That would just be bad planning, _and_ I would be trapped.

I stood, using my vampire speed to get to the window, but when I was about to open the window the girl with the orange hair sat up suddenly and put a hand on my arm.

"Take me with you." The girl said. Her face pleaded for my help.

"Where are we now?" I asked.

"Lyle house. it's a group house, but all of the security stuff was hipped up a few months ago when a group of kids got out." She said steadily. "And I really want to get out." This time when she spoke her voice wavered slightly.

"Okay, I'll take you with me. But I have to warn you, its going to be very fast." I said and she nodded her head in agreement and enthusiasm.

"First of all," I said. "Stand up close to me." She did so warily. "Now, when the alarm goes off we are going to take off running. And when I say we I mean me. You'll understand why in a little." I added at the look of her face.

"On the count of three," I said. "One…two…three!"

I pulled the bars from their place on the window and pulled the window up with brute force. There was some kind of metal in the bars that made it hard to peel away, but I did it. Although any younger vamp would have had trouble with it.

Once the window was open the earsplitting shriek of an alarm went off overhead and I grabbed the girl with the orange hair and jumped out the window and started running.

I was way faster than anything that those people could have sent after me. Obviously they were human, but I had a bad feeling that I had gotten away too easy, although I don't think they expected me to take the other girl with me.

After about fifteen or so miles I finally stopped and put the girl down. She looked windswept, but…ecstatic.

"So, where we headed now?"

On a whim I said, "Connecticut." I said.

The whole process of getting to Connecticut was like a huge blur, for her and me. She told me that we were in Buffalo, NY, so getting to Connecticut took shorter than I thought it would.

I ran the whole way.

I was pretty speedy to. Once we got to Connecticut I was so drained I just plopped down on the stairs of the nearest house.

I told the girl with orange hair (whose name I learned was Basil) to wait as I pushed my way into the forest in the back of the house, looking for a little snack to bring my energy up.

Eventually I fed off of a large deer, sucked it dry. Luckily I knew how to keep myself clean while feeding so appearance wasn't a problem, and I hadn't taken that long anyway, so Basil had nothing to worry about.

What I did need to worry about was the man talking to Basil when I got back.

"Who are you?" I asked from the shadows.

Basil walked up to me and whispered in my ear, "I think we have found our way out. He's offering us a place to stay." She had a big grin on her face.

I looked at her like she was nuts and whispered back. "You can't trust anyone, Basil. Especially not some stranger." She pleaded at me from her eyes. I was a strong willed person, but my own exhaustion was creeping up on me slowly but steadily, so I gave in.

I walked back to the man with Basil, keeping my hat low on my head so that it covered part of my face.

"Hello," the man held out his hand to me. I didn't take it.

He let his hand fall to his side and said, "I'm Andrew. You are welcome to stay in my home for a while. In fact I'm already harboring a few people from the place that you came from, I believe."

That jolted me awake. I snapped my head up so suddenly that it even startled this Andrew guy. And then he saw my face.

"Delia?" He asked in disbelief.

"Oh. This Andrew. I was expecting a loser, but this really tops the list now doesn't it?" I said in my super-sweet voice.

Basil looked back and forth between us. "You two know each other?" She asked warily.

"From a while back." I responded, hoping I sounded calm to her, because in all truth my heart was pounding way too fast for how it normally was.

"Come in." Andrew said, opening his door for us.

I smirked. I had never been to Andrew's house before and now he was inviting me in. I was suddenly glad that I had taken Basil with me when I had fled.

"Whose at the door?" Said a girl with shoulder length unnaturally colored black hair. She took a look a me and Basil and said. "Who are they?"

Andrew drew in a deep breath and said, "Chloe, go and get the others. I want this introduction to happen with all of you here." Chloe nodded and ran up some stairs to presumably "get the others."

After a few minutes of awkward silence while Andrew seated us in the living room, more kids came down. Two boys and one other girl.

Andrew stood. "Everyone," he said, addressing the larger group. "This is Basil," Basil waved and gave a half hearted smile. "And this is Delia." Andrew said indicating to me. I didn't even glance up. "They are going to be staying here fro a while. Apparently they also came from Lyle House." They group nodded in semi-union.

"And Basil, Delia," Andrew continued. "This is Simon, he is a sorcerer." Andrew pointed towards a Korean guy with blond hair and I nodded while Basil's eyes grew wide. "This is Tori, a witch." He pointed to a girl with unruly brown hair and cold eyes. Basil's eyes got wider. "This is Chloe, a necromancer." He indicated to the girl from before. Wider and wider… "And last but not least, this is Derek, he is a werewolf."

At last it looked like Basil's eyes were about to pop out of her head. That would be messy.

Andrew looked at us and Basil said quickly, "I don't know what I am." Andrew noded and his gaze moved to me.

I stood, took off my hat and said, "I'm a vampire."


	2. Chapter 2

Derek's reaction was instant and brutal.

He pushed the other kids behind him, bared his teeth and gave a low growl. He leaned toward me in an intimidating way, trying to build up defenses.

I moved Basil behind me and stated in a clam voice, "Stop growling Derek. I'm not here to bite and I'm pretty sure neither are you." While I spoke, I raked my eyes over everything in sight: the exits, what I could use as a weapon. But also the reactions of the people he was protecting.

Simon looked like he wanted to fight and was pushing at Derek to get out of the way. Tori wasn't doing much, just picking at her nails and flicking off dried nail polish. Chloe, on the other hand, was speaking in Derek's ear, trying to get him to back off.

"Someone like shouldn't have been able to get in here. Andrew can tell a vampire from miles away." Derek spoke through clenched teeth.

"I'm sorry if you didn't notice that he invited me in knowing exactly what I was because he _trusts _me." Or at least I sure hoped he trusted me. Especially after what I've done for him before.

"No one can trust a vampire."

"No on can trust a _werewolf!_" I shot back at him. I could feel my temper rising.

Derek turned to Andrew and Basil put a hand on my shoulder. I turned to her, hearing what she said through one ear and hearing Derek yell at Andrew to do something through the other.

"You have to show them that you're harmless." Basil said, though I could see fear in her eyes and I didn't know if that fear was directed at me or Derek.

"And do you have any suggestions on how to do that?" I asked a bit too sharply. All my life I had been hearing the same thing over, and over again: vampires can't be trusted, they'll kill you! And it was really starting to get to me.

That was my least favorite phrase _ever._

But, when I was about to respond, a sharp rap beat three times against the door. Andrew looked confused, but went to the door anyway. I heard a hushed conversation, a little too low for me to hear. That didn't make me feel good. The only creature who could talk so quiet that I couldn't hear, was a vampire.

Andrew came back in a few minutes later looking dazed, his eyes slightly glazed over. But it was the person that came in after him that made my breath come to a halt.

Tall, dark hair, black eyes, and tons of leather.

My old friend Damon Salvatore.

"Hi, Delia." He said as he plopped down on one of the two sofas in the room. He kicked of his shoes and put his feet on the coffee table and put his hands behind his head. "How's it going?"

I glared at him. "What are you doing here?"

He shrugged. "Heard you were in a bit of a tight spot, thought I may as well check it out."

"Damon, it has been, like, one-hundred-forty-five years since I last saw you. Why would you show up now?" My shock had worn off to give way to extensive annoyance.

"Didn't I just explain that?"

I let my breath out in a rush. "Damon, you always have an ulterior motive for…anything! You expect me to believe that you came here just to check up on me? I would have believed that one-hundred-forty-five years ago, but not now. I've heard the rumors. They all say that you have become a unemotional killing machine. I don't think you know how to care anymore, so why would you _check on me?"_

Derek and Andrew were exchanging looks now that Damon's compulsion had worn off. They were also glancing at me, looking uncomfortable and wary. They weren't the only ones.

"Yeah, I know, checking up on you. Odd. But hey, figured I might as well have a change in character. Do you have any alcohol?" Damon asked, oblivious to the tension in the room.

Andrew answered with a small shake of his head and Damon said, "Wrong. I smell wine. I'm gonna go find it." He rose and stretched before making his way into the kitchen in search of wine.

Derek came over to me with an unattractive grimace on his face. "Who is this doofus? What's going on?" He asked a bit too sharply for my likings.

"I can hear you." Damon yelled from the kitchen in a sing-song voice.

"You think I know what's going on? Didn't you hear how long its been since I saw _him?_ And do you think I even like him? He is a jackass." I said, too low for Damon to hear. Then added, "And, just don't say anything." And I walked over to where Basil was waiting.

"I don't think we have a very good chance of these people trusting us anymore." I said as a warning to Basil. She nodded reluctantly.

From the kitchen, we heard the triumphant cry of, "I found it!" And Damon strode into the living room with a bottle of wine and a smirk plastered on his face. Then he turned to Derek. "I don't appreciate the doofus thing, mutt." I rolled my eyes inwardly, but Derek looked offended.

"Okay Damon. Tell me why you're really here." I wasn't going to take his shit anymore.

He sighed and plopped into the sofa again. "You're sister showed up in town." My eyes widened. I thought that she had been stuck in the tomb all of this time.

"She got a witch to let her out?" I asked, even though I knew the answer.

"No."

I sat down abruptly, like something had just knocked the wind out of me. "So why did you come to me? Do you think she would go after her own sister?"

Damon shook his head. "I don't think she would hunt you. But I figured you could help us with her doppelganger."

"_What?"_ I asked, appalled.

"You should know the legend. You were always into that kind of stuff."

I shook my head. "I never knew what Katherine was running from, but I guess I know now. Are you sure she has a doppelganger?" I asked attentively.

"I've compared them side to side. Its like there's two of her."

"Damn." I muttered under my breath.

"What _are_ you two talking about?" Derek asked with a glare in our direction.

I looked at him and said seriously, "Vampire lore." And he laughed.

Faster than the human (or most superhuman, apparently) eye could follow, I had him backed up into a wall and held him by his neck. "Derek," I whispered to him. "This is very serious. Me, my sister and her doppelganger could be killed because of this. And that wouldn't end up so great, because then the vampires would release the werewolf curse and send you on a rampage night and day." I released him and walked away.

"What do you mean? What curse?" Chloe asked.

"The curse that binds a werewolf by the moon and the curse that binds a vampire by the sun. Although many of us vampires have found ways around the curse." I held up my hand with the ring on it and let it sparkle in the fluorescent light. They still looked confused.

"This'll take a while to explain." Damon stated.

"Yeah." I agreed.

"I'll start," Damon said. "Her sister, Katherine, is a…con-woman. One-hundred-forty-five years ago (or so, I stopped counting a while ago) she was…conning me and my brother, Stefan." Damon said lightly, but I could hear the bitterness hidden deep in his voice.

"What kind of conning?" Simon asked.

"A love con. She was doing us both." Damon relaxed into the sofa again and took a long sip of wine.

Then Simon turned to me. "Your sister?" He asked, as if he didn't want to know.

"A sister that I defiantly never wanted." I said, venom seeping into my voice. I always hated it when people showed me the disgust that should be reserved for Katherine instead.

"Well, back to the story," Damon said. "Okay so, then the people of Fells Church, the town we were in at the time, arranged a little vampire hunt. They planned to sedate all of the vampires with vervain and then put them into the basement of a church and set it on fire. But, instead, the vamps ended up in a tomb. A tomb sealed by a witches' magic. But Katherine got out. She had a friend amongst the witches. Her name was Emily Bennett, and even thought Emily got Katherine out, she locked all of the other vampires into the tomb."

"Why weren't you two locked away in that tomb?" Tori asked, barley glancing up from her nails.

"Because no one suspected Katherine's innocent, sweet little sister." I said, sarcasm dripping from every word.

"I wasn't put there because I wasn't a vampire then. But someone killed me and _then _I was a vampire." Damon said.

"So how does it work? The human to vamp change?" Simon asked.

"Well, a human needs to ingest vampire blood for it to work, and then they have to die while the vampire blood is still in their system." I said. "Some commit suicide to make it happen faster, like Katherine, and others end up like Damon here, who was shot."

"That hurt." Damon said, rubbing at his chest as if it still hurt him.

I massaged my temples and said, flat out, "This story is too long. Can we just skip to the questions?"

"I can deal with that." Simon said. "I thought vampires were like a race. You know, they are born and then have children and the race grows from that."

"You call that a question?" I asked incredulously, but still answered. "Obviously, the supernatural people like you got that wrong. Its as simple as that. You never wanted to know much about us, so we fed you lies." Simon looked offended.

"Why would you do that? I mean, the werewolves were up front with us." Chloe argued.

"Because werewolves were dumb enough to trust you." I said. "And weren't you all asking questions about the curse and moonstone at the mysterious begging of this conversation?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

"No buts. So, this moonstone was made, like, a _really_ long time ago. And basically, the moonstone has werewolves change by the full moon, and it makes vampires burst into flame when they go out in the sun."

"You know, I love giving history lessons to strangers and all, but you might need to come with me." Damon said, standing again and taking one last swing of wine.

"Why and where?"

"Because I want you to meet your older sisters doppelganger back in good old Mystic Falls."

I shook my head. "No way in hell am I going back to Mystic Falls any day soon." That place held many, _many_ bad memories for me.

"Yes, you are." Damon said it so surely it made me want to bite his head off. Literally.

"Now, why is that?" I asked in my infamous bitchy tone.

"Because there is tons of shit going on down there and-" He cut himself off and I could tell he was fighting with himself to decide whether or not he would finish that statement of his.

"And what?" I asked, a devilish grin spreading across my face.

"And we need your help." Damon said so quietly I almost didn't hear what he said.

"Could you repeat that for me, please? I didn't catch it."

"Now you're just being cruel, Delia." Damon said, frowning.

"What?" I heard a cry of confusion from Simon and looked over my shoulder momentarily and laughed at the ridiculous look of confusion on his face.

"Nothing." I told Simon, but leaned over and quickly whispered to Damon, "No more cruel than you ever are."

"You're still coming." Damon said.

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not." I said, getting more and more exasperated

"Yes, you are."

"Oh my god, NO I AM NOT!" I yelled at him, causing all of the others to jump at the sudden loud noises.

"It just so interesting to watch you freak out." Damon said, a half smile playing on his lips. "But you are coming." Damon added.

"Why do you want me to come back so much?"

"Didn't I already answer that?" Damon answered with distaste.

"I didn't hear you." I said with the same devilish grin as before.

"I am _not_ repeating something like that." He walked up to me and we stood facing each other, eye to eye. "But you _are_ coming with me. 'Cause we've got a werewolf problem to sort out."


	3. Chapter 3

_**For those who asked, this started as a Vampire Diaries (book) fanfic, but I didn't read all of them (nor did I want to, they were really **_**really**_** boring) so there are a few mistakes along the way, but this **_**is**_** a Vampire Diaries (TV show) fanfic.**_

_**And I don't own Vampire Diaries (TV show) or the Darkest Powers series. (though I **_**really**_** wish I did).**_

"Wait, what?" I asked, slightly appalled. I mean, I'd known there were werewolves in the world, but I hadn't thought there were many. And it takes _a lot_ for Damon to come get my help, especially when I hadn't seen him for so long.

"You heard me." He replied. "Werewolves, like your little buddy over there." He said and jerked his head in Derek's direction.

"I didn't think there were that many. Especially not enough to take your attention away from…the normal." And by normal I meant two things, a) blood, no duh, and b) girls.

"You expect so little of me it hurts." He said in a voice full of mock offense.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed. "Look, Damon, they are just wolves. You and Stefan and Katherine. You have enough people." My voice sounded so exhausted that it even hurt me to listen to it.

With my eyes shut tight, I heard Damon sigh. "I can tell you've had a bad day. But this is bigger than all of us. It has to do with Elena and Tyler and Bonnie. I know it doesn't have to do with you-and I have no idea why you would think Katherine is _helping _us, she is just making it more difficult-but we need as many people as we can get. We need your help." This time Damon didn't whisper it.

I opened my eyes to find everyone staring at me, waiting for my answer. I felt most sympathy for Basil, because I wasn't going to be around to help her out anymore.

"Fine." I said, surprising everyone.

"You're kidding me aren't you?" Damon asked, thinking he was still treading dangerous waters with me.

"No, I'm not." I said. "But you can't expect me to go to this…Mystic Falls tonight. I had to run here all the way from New York. I am truly exhausted." I didn't look up at Basil. I was too scared.

Damon's eyes were wide. "That-that's great!" He said, his normal smirk making its way across his face once again. "We leave tomorrow morning-or afternoon, it depends on when I decide to get up-but you'll see me tomorrow for sure." He gave me a thumbs up (which was not usual for him to do) and left the house, closing the door softly behind him (which was also new).

I thought I heard a very loud cry of "YES!" from outside. But I wasn't sure.

I looked up in Andrew's direction. "Can I have a room?" I guess I sounded really bad, based on the overly sympathetic look he gave me.

I rolled my eyes behind his back as we made our way up the stairs. He led me to the first unoccupied room he saw, which, sadly, was covered in dust. But I wasn't complaining.

The room had an odd feel to it. Like it was too empty, too quiet. It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, which normally meant something was wrong. I ignored it and went about trying to clean some of the dust off of the poor old bed before I collapsed into it and fell asleep without taking my shoes off.

_The room was dark. The tiles beneath my feet were cold as ice, sharp as talons. My breath caught as a figured danced gracefully across the room and came to stand before me._

_It was Katherine in all of her chestnut hair and brown eyed glory._

"_It'd been a long time sister." She said, critically walking in a circle around me, as if assessing my appearance._

"_Not bad. This age suits you." Katherine gave me a sugary-sweet smile that made a shiver run up my spine, as if cold fingers were being dragged across my back._

"_Are you mute sister, or do you just not want to talk to me?" She asked with a smile._

"_Why are you here, Katherine?" I asked, finally finding my voice._

"_Why, to see you. Why else?"_

"_To cause trouble." Katherine's laugh was as clear and beautiful as it was intimidating._

"_I would have caused trouble whether I was here or not. You are coming to me." She stalked to a marble bench that I hadn't noticed before and raised the skirt of her dove white dress as she seated herself. She proceeded to stare out of the window for a long time before coming back to earth._

"_Delia, you don't have to come with Damon. In fact I would prefer it if you didn't." She looked into my eyes, pleading with her own._

_I walked over and sat next to her. I then noticed that I was wearing different clothes than before. We were both barefoot, which was why the ground felt so cold, and I was in a light green gown that greatly resembled the gown I had been wearing when I was turned. A thin thing, with a swooping neckline (that now made me quite uncomfortable) and long sleeves that extended to the floor. It was a dress from our time period, as was her own._

"_Katherine, if things with the wolves are as bad a Damon said, I have to. I have to protect these people." I said it softly, but I could have been yelling for the way Katherine reacted._

_Her eyes narrowed and I could tell she was gritting her teeth. "They don't need _your_ help." The anger in her voice was severely audible._

_I stood and took a step back, praying this dream would end before she lost it._

_But, suddenly, things changed._

_Something was spreading itself out on the floor, dark and evil looking. When it reached my feet, it felt sticky and hot and with a jolt I realized it was blood._

_Katherine laughed, the sound a maniac made just before they killed someone, the sound of a predator about to make the kill._

_Luckily it never got that far. As the blood consumed the floor, the room started fading from my view, blackness filling up the places there had once been life._

_Soon, it was all gone._

I felt someone shaking me, and groaned.

I looked up and saw Simon leaning over me, a worried expression covering his face.

He sighed in relief. "Oh good. I thought you were having a seizure of something." He leaned away from me and sat on the end of my still dusty bed.

I shook my head. "No, just a bad dream." No, it was a freaking _horrible_ nightmare. But I think telling him that would make him freak out as much as it was making me.

I looked at the clock next to my bed. It read 1:09. "What are you still doing up?"

He shrugged. "Couldn't sleep." He lapsed into silence and I waited a bit before going on myself.

"And why couldn't you sleep?" my voice was muffled by a pillow that I had hidden my face under. I wanted to go to sleep, just not if Katherine was going to make more nightmares for me.

"I don't know. This place kind of creeps me out I guess. I don't really get a good vibe from it." he said, surprising me.

I uncovered my face. "Yeah, me too."

I don't know how long we sat in silence, mulling this over, but eventually the exhaustion kicked in once again.

The sleep was restless, but thankfully, dreamless.


End file.
